Seaside Heights to spend $12M to rebuild boardwalk

Dec. 6, 2012

Written by

@Erik_Larsen

TOMS RIVER — An emergency appropriation of $50 million for clean-up costs related to superstorm Sandy was adopted Wednesday by the Ocean County Board of Freeholders.

Later Wednesday evening, the Seaside Heights Borough Council — meeting at the Ocean County Library down the street — authorized the receipt of bids to rebuild its landmark boardwalk.

Seaside Heights Mayor William Akers said reconstruction of the boardwalk would cost about $12 million and be built in the same footprint as the old boardwalk, 70 feet wide at the south end and 40 feet wide in the north end.

“We’re pushing hard for May 1, that’s what we’re looking for,” Akers said of its completion date.

However, Akers could not say which businesses would return to the boardwalk next summer.

The mayor also said municipal officials hoped to get residents back into their homes in the borough sometime in January, though he cautioned that any plan put forth would need the approval of Gov. Chris Christie.

Borough Attorney George R. Gilmore said the reason the cost of rebuilding the boardwalk is not as expensive as the $20 million price tag for Belmar in Monmouth County, was that the Ocean County government was fronting the clean-up costs for Seaside Heights.

Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. said the measure authorizes the county government to fund contracts up to $50 million with AshBritt Inc. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. for the removal and disposal of debris, and with the Louis Berger Group of Morristown, which will supervise the clean-up.

Both companies are working with the state and have the approval of the Christie administration, said Freeholder Gerry P. Little.

As of Wednesday, 15 of 33 municipalities in Ocean County had agreed to enter into interlocal service agreements with the county government to remove storm debris from their communities. The towns included Barnegat, Beach Haven, Berkeley, Brick, Jackson, Lavallette, Long Beach Township, Manchester, Mantoloking, Seaside Heights, Ship Bottom, Stafford, Toms River and Waretown.

Bartlett said the county would front the cost of the work and then apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for at least 75 percent reimbursement. The county would then bill the appropriate town for the remaining cost and payment would be expected within 30 days.

“Now the reason that we’re doing this is that we’re big, we’ve got the capacity in our professional staff to manage this huge process and we have the fiscal expertise in our finance department to pay these bills, to pay them in a timely fashion and to apply for the FEMA reimbursements,” Bartlett said.

The freeholder said the county had about $33 million in reserve to fund the costs and the board would bond whatever else was needed.

Bartlett said Vice President Joe Biden, who toured damaged parts of Ocean County with him last month, told the freeholder that the White House wanted to reimburse local governments 90 percent of recovery costs. But that remained to be seen, Bartlett said.